Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Price Target Raised to $262.00

by · The Markets Daily

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) had its target price raised by investment analysts at Bank of America from $261.00 to $262.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 27.21% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on DRI. Melius Research upgraded Darden Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Darden Restaurants in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Darden Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho raised Darden Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $195.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Darden Restaurants from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.63.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of DRI traded up $3.59 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $205.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 195,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,427,167. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $207.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.60. Darden Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $169.00 and a fifty-two week high of $228.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.61.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The restaurant operator reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. Darden Restaurants had a net margin of 8.92% and a return on equity of 52.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. Darden Restaurants has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.500-10.700 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Susan M. Connelly sold 2,635 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.36, for a total transaction of $546,393.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,761.28. The trade was a 39.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Todd Burrowes sold 7,103 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.12, for a total value of $1,471,173.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 44,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,165,474.24. This represents a 13.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,770 shares of company stock worth $3,948,970. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Darden Restaurants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DRI. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,161,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,790,128,000 after purchasing an additional 322,079 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Darden Restaurants by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,063,355 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,587,939,000 after purchasing an additional 43,965 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,077,567 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,486,434,000 after buying an additional 3,613,781 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Darden Restaurants by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,916,944 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,071,746,000 after buying an additional 100,270 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Darden Restaurants by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,189,868 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $771,020,000 after buying an additional 68,245 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.64% of the company’s stock.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Darden Restaurants, Inc is a multi-brand, full-service restaurant company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company owns and operates a portfolio of casual and fine-dining concepts that together serve millions of guests through company-owned and franchised locations. Its well-known brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, alongside other dining concepts that span Italian, American, steakhouse and upscale casual formats.

Darden’s restaurants provide a range of guest-facing services including dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering, and feature menus tailored to each brand’s positioning—Italian-American fare at Olive Garden, steaks and grilled items at LongHorn, and more premium steakhouse and chef-driven offerings at its upscale concepts.

Featured Articles